Ash and Haze
by Dontai
Summary: Some say death is the worst thing that could happen to you. But in the far reaches anything is possible. Soon the Blood Ravens will learn there are still mysteries left in the universe. Mysteries that are best left unsolved ...
1. Chapter 1

Franz Cadorna stepped into cavernous squad meeting room taking note that it was oddly deserted, not even servitors were present. Just him and the chapter master. Franz had just gotten off of a three week extended tour and had gotten little to no sleep in the last couple of weeks, which was making him yawn constantly, to his annoyance. Just gotten back from his room, he was wearing his off-duty fatigues.

"This better be important," Franz says annoyed.

"I thought you would like to know about our next mission," his chapter master says. With his broad, commanding forehead, wide mouth, piercing light blue-almost grey eyes, Chapter master of the 31'st chapter of blood angels, Sydney was startling to behold. Thanks to a geen-seed malfunction he not only towered over his brethren, but lumbered about. But this had little to do with his ascension through the ranks. No it was his aptitude at being tactician and leadership quality. His nickname was the Blood-Mountain.

Sydney showed three images in a sequence, a grim, dooms day triptych. The first was an image of a great battlefield being held by the imperial guard. Thirty kilometers south a military line had been created with cement bunkers, machine gun nest, trenches and dugouts. Three stylized commissars were leading the defense against the slithering horde of demons. The next image showed a commissars in the back, standing up on a fortification over looking the imperial defenses binoculars in hand.

"Where is this place?" Franz asked already disinterested.

"Septimundus is septum ultima system," he was told. Now he was really disinterested.

"That's on the other side of the galaxy, way out of our district. There has got to be another chapter closer than us."

"All of them are currently preoccupied with other conflicts. Besides special orders from above, Terra."

"So the imperial guard, are they all dead?" Franz stared at the images taking in every detail. What did some far flung battle in the outer reaches have to with him or the Blood Ravens.

Sydney looks at him with a stoic expression, but Franz was used to being around him and capable of reading his emotions. His master's words held hidden emotions between the syllables. "The last we heard the imperial guard had the situation under controls. Then no word, no nothing, just silence. This is the last image we received from orbiting satellites." The third image was hauntingly familiar. It showed an explosion - a green-tinted blast with a mushroom cloud hanging over it, a pulsing wave of energy radiated from the center destroying everyone and everything.

"Who authorized nukes?" Franz asks.

Sydney shakes his head as a confirming answer. "No one."

"Someone had to have authorized it. Maybe the chaos invaders?"

"Could've been chaos, it did register as an older style of nuclear weapon. But the exact information is missing, but when has chaos used nukes?"

"Were there any survivors? What of 21'st and 31'st Bloodied-Hand-of-the-Emporer imperial guard regiment? What of the original company of Ultra marines?"

"Dead," Sydney's tone was grim. Despite trying to hide his grief, it leaked through. "Along with nearly two million civilians and non military personal, reinforcements consisting of a full strength company of conscripts, and two penal legions. All data from the blast has been lost and the E.M.P. destroyed at least three satellites. The rest were destroyed deliberately. That's were you come in. We needs boots on the ground to figure out what happened."

"Sounds like a bad run ..."

"It is," Sydney affirmed him. " The planet was nuked, a terrible disaster overtake the land, and their civilization vanished over night ... extinction level event ... Total genocide ... An entire planet wiped out over night."

The Blood Angels' monastery and battle barge, Tear's-of-the-Knight, entered high anchor over the the planet Septimundus with a full complement of imperial naval officers, a regiment of imperial guard, clergy men, and a chapter of Blood Ravens. Enough men and equipment to reconquer the planet for the Imperium Of Man; though this is a investigation. The Knight's newest captain, Ernest Lawrence, was a veteran of thirty campaigns;not all of them successful. Intending to make the first mission with this ship and the last voyage of his career, a successful one. Sven had been the previous captain for the last nineteen years, bringing glory to the ship. But the previous captain died unceremoniously without honor from a fever during the slaughter of Xeon from injuries sustained during the battle for the capital. Widely loved and respected, nobody wanted to takes his place. With a position nobody wanted but everyone needed, the brotherhood of Adeptus Astartes was forced to elect someone. But they wanted someone trusted by everyone and with no hidden motivations. Ernest, approaching his late 60's, didn't have the heart to tell them he was retiring. It hurt his heart to know that this colorless bland world would be last thing he would see. The surface wasn't even visible from the amount of ash in the stratosphere. "Life signs," Ernest ordered.

"We can't get a fixed reading," one of the crew members replied. "To much interference from the nuclear blast."

"Franz, you ready to make planet fall?" He heard a confirmation over the radio.

Streaks lit up the starless Septimundus sky, like distant cannon fire, and explosion on the ice could be heard from a distance. The pods crash to earth in massive eruption of dirt and ash. Franz eyes crested the horizon seeing only the ash haze in the distance and twisted charred landscape. The Geiger counter in his suit beeped and chirped, the radiation was easily in lethal doses. The only reprieve or protection was the tight claustrophobic confines of his suit. He had to take every step in a slow deliberate manner. The journey would take several hours.

On the scout mission he found where the capital was suppose to be, key word being suppose too. The way directly ahead of him was a four-thousand-foot frozen waterfall. The capital had a sudden drop off to a sheer cliffside, the deeply split ground had created a massive chasm. The sensible route was to go up the steep incline on the other side. If he was an experts on jump-packs, he could traverse across. The reckless way to conquer the single most hazardous site was to go onto the ice alone, stake out a point at the base of the waterfall and start your ascent. In this type of ascent, anyone who became trapped by the ice slide from the burners, buried by avalanche, or swallowed by a crevice that had opened and then closed without warning would likely remain frozen in the perpetual nuclear winter. There was no way of getting across from here. His mission was over.

Though from the vantage point, he could see the first signs of civilization in the distant horizon where the buildings caressed the sky. The buildings were partially buried in ash. He took long distance video scans to be analyzed later. What the video revealed is that for the imperial citizens of Septimundus, everyday life had been cut short. "This is Franz, there's nothing alive down here. There's barely any evidence of what happened here. Requesting immediate pick up," he ordered. His voice reverberating across the ice face.

There was a reply back, "We're receiving you. No way around?"

"No way."

"We're not taking you across. Meet me in the meeting hall. All staff is required." What in the world is going on, he wondered.

The Thunder-Hawk swung by, it's cargo bay door's opened like a gaping maw. It was a protecting bosom to him, nestling him away from fridge winter.

Back on board, he follows the executive officer's directions. He unlocks the door to the conference room and steps inside. He was surprised not to see Sydney in the conference room. Instead he estimated thirty to forty other Imperium officers were seated in an unbalanced circle around a massive hand carved oak table. Franz divided them into three groups - military, of which he was one. Your standard variety general and higher command echelon. These people were good at getting people killed but very bad at actually killing people. Scientist, who were sent to study the planet and decide what had happen. Finally, roughnecks; the naval officers, techpriests, and the ship's captain who wasn't present either.

"That some pretty fancy gear were bringing for a scout run," one of naval officer says jokingly. "Wonder why?"

"Well," Albert Hari says like he was about to give a presentation. The man had the look of a tech priest, from the augmented limbs to the robes."We have a sophisticated chimera sent straight from mars. It's equipped with a thermal exchange, filtration system for use in highly irradiated environments. Also E.M.P. resistant."

The naval officer raised a finger, "Don't tell me... techpriest."

"Warrant officer for supply requisition and the armory." Albert snapped back.

"Didn't know they would let such a low ranking officer attend meetings," the naval officer said with a snort and giving a disapproving look.

"Well when your down there and you don't have your proper equipment or your gun stops working, don't come crying to me."

Sydney came hulking in a moment later. The man's physical deformity had an immediate unsettling effect on the attending officers, most had to avert their eyes. As an experienced leader of men, Sydney could feel their discomfort, the tension rippling through the room, like a pebble dropped into a lake. This didn't stop the two arguing members. He put up a hand to break up the argument.

Forging such a diverse group into a functional and efficient team would be a it was true that some of the heighten emotions were due to the uncertainty about why they'd been brought here and what was expected of them, most of it was from being so far from home. But once these people were made aware of significance of their mission, uncertainty would be replace with dedication to their duty.

"Everybody, please, your attention," Sydney announced into the microphone. His amplified voice reverberated hollowly in the cavernous space. "Most of you already know me, and I know all of you, by reputation, if not yet personally. My name is Sydney and We've been brought here ..."

Suddenly a hand fell on his shoulder. Sydney turned. "Captain Ernest," he said, surprised.

"Thank you, Sydney. I'll take it from here," Ernest says taking center stage, all eyes fell upon him. "Two weeks ago a tax dispute turned deadly. Open revolt across the planet. I have to stress that this had nothing to do with chaos. Chaos worshiper used the turmoil as a distraction to infiltrate the planet and gain a foot hold. It's too bad for chaos that neither the rebels nor the official government liked chaos. After a horribly long siege, the imperial had gain control of the situation. Then the catastrophic event happened, suddenly without warning. Franz, tell me what's it like down there."

"Real cluster fuck, radiation storms, 1000 rad in both the gamma and alpha radiation types. Suits can barely handle it. You can forget sending down the guardsmen. Preliminary reports shows people were caught more or less off guard. There was no attempt to evacuate the planet. It was quick, sudden, and brutal."

"Here's what you don't know, were getting movement down there, lots of movement."

"... Chaos certainly had the ability to survive the radiation. Especially if it's worshipers of nurgle." Franz interrupted.

Waiting patiently for murmurs of surprise to fade, Ernest twirls his ceremonial sword. "The movement is not coming from where you expect it. But we're not here to discuss that." The lights in the room dimmed, and a digital projection illuminated a large holographic map. "Since are arrival, our ship has detected a heat bloom beneath the earth outlined in this-"

The square of white light was replaced with a hazy hologram, red-and-yellow-hued. Outline in the yellow on blood red is a black and burnt-orange background, a encircling interlocking pattern of shapes were clearly visible. "This is a thermal image." Ernest Continued. "The red circles indicated solid walls. The orange, solid rock. My experts tell me it's a pyramid, and you know the only race that builds pyramids."

"What caused the heat bloom?" Asked Franz.

"We're not sure if the nuclear blast awakened them or was a last ditch attempt to stop them. We know the energy reading is coming from the pyramid. The planetary survey showed no records of the pyramid. Nor did the initial deep scans of the planet reveal any artificial proto-structures. Best guess, the nuclear blast unburied the structure and awoke them. Normally we would just destroy the planet from orbit. But the original mission given to us by the high lords of Terra remains. To complete our mission, our sacred duty, we need to determine what happened here. Haig and Franz, get your butts topside and determine what the movement is down their. Everyone else remain here until we find out if their awakened. Emperor help us if they are. Dismissed."

Franz got up and headed towards the armory and then to the waiting shuttle, no drop pods this time.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been little over fifteen minutes since the meeting first took place. Franz wasn't happy to be going back, especially seeing the planet drifting ominously ahead. Least he wasn't alone. The captain had seen fit to partnered him up with a slightly younger marine. Only by a couple of months. Yet in terms of the space marines, that's behind years worth of experience. The young marine hadn't even experienced an exterminatus world. It's quite traumatic. You wouldn't soon forget it. But by the Emperor, did you wish you could forget.

"Down there you will see things," Franz say quietly. Nothing more than a hushed whisper drowned out by the roar of the engines. The ship lurches.

Haig's face is pressed against the glass. They were passing over the capital. Down below are millions of blackened skeletons half-buried in the snow drift. The sight causes him to recoil. Franz rests a hand on his shoulder. "Yes," Haig says, "I see them."

"No, not that. You will see things down there, things that defy explanation. Just follow my instruction, ok."

"What are you talking about?" Haig asks with a snort. "More ghost stories?"

"There is much more to the warp than chaos. Things your not ready to confront ... or accept." Haig responded with a scoff. Franz sighs under his breath. 'New bloods' he thinks to himself. I was once like them. Those were good times.

They finally landed just this side of the battlefield. As the ramp fell, a fierce wind battered the transport. Peering out from inside, the post-war nuclear haze concealed everything. It was made worse by the jet thrust from the four turbine engines of the Thunderhawk. Franz took the first step out into the maelstrom and was instantly consumed by the storm. It was a simple mission relatively speaking: walk straight until your past the battlefield and scout out the surrounding area around the pyramid. But nothing about the circumstances of this mission made it easy. Taking only the briefest moment to inspect his weapon, he sets off.

All plant life on the planet was either dead or dying creating massive rivers of sludge and making it hard for the air scrubbers to keep out the smell of decay. Ship sensors detected a massive storm building over the southern ocean. Time was short. Yet the ground was thick with sludge and made worse by a light acidic rain hours ago causing his boots to sink into the murky earth.

The sky was a veil, a low sun was occasionally visible through breaks in the unsettling weather. Frigid winds were cutting through the smooth surface of ice chunks, some the size of a chimera, leaving them jagged. There were silhouettes in the haze. The sight sent memories running down his spine like a chill. A nightmare just out of sight. This is why you don't go to exterminatus world.

He warns the inexperienced battle brother, "Don't go near the silhouettes."

"What silhouettes? I don't see anything." Franz helmet light illuminates the shadow of a woman with no visible source. The woman doesn't react to them. In fact, she doesn't even notice the current state of the planet. She continues to flee from some unseen threat until she fades from sight. You could still hear her crying, the unsettling sound sends shivers down the spine of even the emotionally stoic space marines.

"What are they?" Haig asks stopping in his tracks.

"Latent physic energy, but the superstitious lot akin them to a haunting. These people didn't die willing and linger on." Franz replies from experience. The woman moves on. You can still hear her faint crying on the wind. They continue onward through the murky battlefield until something else gives them a reason to pause. There were two shadows just ahead. One was a woman desperately clutching her child. The other one was her terribly panicked child.

"So much for the imperial guard gaining control of the situation." Franz voice was dry, gravely, and devoid of mirth. "Be thankful you never visited a exterminatus world. The elder brothers call them haunted worlds. These civilian weren't Chaos worshipers, they just got too close to the warp. The result is that they can't move on. Some part of them remains trapped in the warp, wandering aimlessly, repeating those terrible final moment leading up to their death. A death the imperium largely continues to choose for its citizens." They continued to walk as Franz spoke.

"All things have an effect on the warp, even death. People who die tragically have a strange affect on it. Chaos members want to die, they yearn for its embrace. These people didn't. So in a twisted sort of way, it preserves them. Look up ahead -" there was an imperial checkpoint, an entrance for vehicles that consisted of a raisable barricade with dragon's teeth and barbwire on either side. "Imperial guard still on duty even in death. Come they will let us pass-" The imperial shades stepped aside letting the marines pass. One of the guards even gives a salute. Then the guards vanished out of sight leaving only their skeletons remaining at their duty post.

The temperature had suddenly plummeted, the world became deathly still. The silhouettes had vanished. "What's going on?" Haig asked.

"There are thing worse than death. Things that transcended death -" There were shapes moving through the mist, not mere shadows. But something flesh and blood, real as you or me. Water splashes from footfalls. Finally, they stagger out of this mist. With each step, the water and mud began to boil. Steam rises from their still-smoldering bodies. "Is this how the warp also preserves peoples?" Haig screams.

"Sadly, yes," Franz screams back. "It preserved their hate, their terrible anguish." These people weren't recognizable. It was dubious if they had ever been human. These creatures bodies were badly burned, flesh charred.

"We are angels of mercy to the innocent and death to the enemies of man," Haig says taking pity on the creatures. "I know not what hell had spawned such abomination. But I'll surely put you down. Lay your souls to rest."

"These are not demons, Haig. These are heat revenants. Human souls torment by their fiery death. They need to be consecrated. But be warned, their touch is hot as a melta."

A hand reaches out gripping Haig's right forearm. The ceramite plating begins to warp from just a couple of second of exposure to creature's iron grip. He knocks the creature to the ground with a devastating kick and bringing his boot down on it, crushing it. Both marines brandish their chain-swords against the revenants, chopping them down like burnt trees. Despite returning from the dead, they went down easy and stayed down. The battle had lasted minutes, but it felt like an eternity. It was something you never forget, something that changes the way you viewed the universe. Haig laid kneeling on the ground staring down at the pitiable creatures. Every detail of his fellow battle brother was concealed by his armor.

"What is it, Haig?"

"Is this our fate? To linger on. Do we fight for the Emperor only to remain trapped between worlds?" His voice sounded hollow. Filled with sadness and despair.

"It's the choice we all made for the Emperor," Franz replies. "A chance we'd all taken. It's not a certainty that we'll become like them. Just a possibility. Best not to dwell on it." His words didn't comfort his battle brother like he thought. He knelt there in silence.

After a while, Haig rose to his feet."I know now what you meant. Let get this cursed mission over with."

They passed the rest of the battlefield almost unhindered. By now the nuclear chill had seeped into Franz body. "There it is," he screamed over the prevailing winds howling all around him. Screaming into his vox to be heard. "It's the pyramid. It looks nothing like the simulations. Over there is the southern city." - to Franz, the abandoned city looked like one of those abandon colony on the fringes, long since forgotten during the age of strife. There was also similarities to the pictures of earth before the Emperor took dominance over it. The spare, function city was made of plasteel and ceramite rebar structures. The main street had several abandoned vehicles and was fronted by several large buildings, a completely collapsed cathedral, and smaller shacks in various stages of disrepair. Composite-shingled roofs sagged under accumulated snow. Drifts as high as ten feet collected between the buildings and almost completely buried some of the smaller, heavily damaged structures. The rest of the city had been completely swallowed up by the sinkhole caused by the emergence of the pyramid. Most eerie was dark pall that hung over the place. At this time a permeant shadow fell over the ghost town from the massive pyramid. Thirty meters down they could see thousands of bodies. They were chaos marines, corrupted guardsmen, cultist and just all manner of chaos supporters.

There were the sounds of heavy fighting - bolter rounds rang out sporadically then fell deathly silent. At the end of the street, a faction belonging to Nurgle was locked in a life and death struggle against an ancient terror.

"These weren't part of the invading warband." Franz says zooming on their armor. "They must've been attracted by the decay in the air." Many of their armor's filtration systems were heavily damage or had stopped functioning centuries ago. But it didn't matter much to the forces of decay. Their near death like state made them all but immune to radiation.

Now the force of decay had fallen prey to something else. Franz never heard the ancient terror before, except maybe in his nightmares. But they sounded exactly how he would have imagined. The movement of the abhorrent was both slow and clunky, marked with the echoing sound of clanking and accompanied with the sound of metal grinding together. Hearing the grinding sound felt like your teeth were going to shatter. The only thing he saw was two green mechanical eyes peering out from the dark - a blast of green lightning flayed the armor and skin from one of the chaos warriors.

"Run," Franz says ...


End file.
